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City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: CONSENT CALENDAR
Lead Department: Transportation
Meeting Date: May 6, 2024
Report #:2403-2735
TITLE
Approval of Contract Amendment Number 6 to Contract C18171057 with AECOM to increase compensation by $297,206 for a new total not to exceed of $3,894,034 and Extend the Term for Six Months for Additional Studies, Outreach, and Support for Rail Grade Separation Projects along Caltrain Corridor; CEQA status – statutorily exempt under CEQA section 15262 (feasibility and planning study).
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager or designee to execute Contract Amendment No. 6 to Contract C18171057 with AECOM, to increase compensation by $297,206 and to extend the contract by six months, to increase the scope of services to update to project materials, conduct outreach, and support for the Railroad Grade Separation Projects at Churchill Avenue (PL-24000) and Meadow Drive/Charleston Road (PL- 24001). This Contract Amendment results in a revised contract total not-to-exceed amount of $3,894,034.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Staff recommends that the City Council approve and authorize the City Manager to execute Amendment No. 6 to Contract C18171057 with AECOM for the Railroad Grade Separation Projects at Churchill Avenue (PL-24000) and Meadow Drive/Charleston Road (PL-24001) for the technical services and professional support and to increase the compensation by $297,206 on a time and material basis for a total not-to-exceed amount of $3,894,034 and extending the contract to April 30, 2025. This amendment will allow AECOM to perform updates to the project materials including conceptual plans, profiles, sections, renderings, fact sheets, costs etc. and assist staff in conducting outreach as directed by the Rail Committee and the City Council on the remaining rail crossing alternatives.
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BACKGROUND & ANALYSIS
The City Council approved a contract with AECOM to serve as the primary consultant for the Connecting Palo Alto Rail Grade Separation Project on April 16, 2018 (C18171057) for the contract in the amount of $1,278,660 ( Staff Report 91001). Following the original contract, City executed the following amendments:
•Amendment No. 1 on June 24, 2019 (Staff Report 104632), •Amendment No. 2 on June 23, 2020 (Staff Report 112733), •Amendment No. 3 on April 26, 2021 (Staff Report 121534), •Amendment No. 4 on May 16, 2022 ( Staff Report 143415), •Amendment No. 5 on April 23, 2024 (6 Month Time Extension only).
These contract amendments provided for professional services and continuity of support for rail grade separation projects. These tasks included the development of conceptual alternatives, conducting technical studies, and providing outreach efforts and assistance to the City staff. The consultant has completed majority of tasks in the existing contract amendments that includes developing and refining conceptual plans, conducting additional studies (traffic study, noise and vibration study, preliminary geotechnical study, sea level rise assessment, heat island effect, and storm runoff analysis). In addition, the Consultant has also completed update to other project materials as directed for update to renderings and a summary of the evaluation of the Council adopted criteria.
In November 2023, the Caltrain Staff provided an update on the four-tracking analysis at a Rail Committee Study Session (Caltrain Presentation 6). In addition, the City also received technical review comments from Caltrain staff on the Partial Underpass and Closure with Mitigation Alternatives at Churchill Avenue and for Hybrid, Viaduct, and Underpass Alternatives at Meadow Drive and Charleston Road crossings. These comments were discussed in detail at the January 23, 2024, Rail Committee meeting (Staff Report 2311-23037). At this meeting, the Rail committee 1 City Council, April 16, 2018; CMR ID # 9100: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas- minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports-cmrs/year-archive/2018/9100.pdf 2 City Council, June 24, 2019; CMR ID# 10463 https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas- minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports-cmrs/year-archive/2019/id-10463.pdf 3 City Council, June 23, 2020; CMR ID# 11273: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/1/agendas- minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports-cmrs/year-archive/2020/id-11273.pdf 4 City Council, April 26, 2021; CMR ID# 12153: https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/files/assets/public/v/2/agendas- minutes-reports/reports/city-manager-reports-cmrs/year-archive/2021/id-12153.pdf 5 City Council, May 23, 2022, CMR ID# 14341
https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Public/CompiledDocument?meetingTemplateId=12256&compileOutputType =1
6 Rail Committee, November 21, 2023,
https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=d2057565-6b16-44eb-b5eb-2a021fad2f24 7 Rail Committee, January 23, 2024, CMR ID# 2311-2308:
https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=562ad105-2798-43bf-9d47-6947f2c40697 4 2
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directed staff to coordinate with Caltrain staff to determine the material changes needed for the alternative concepts to address updated standards guiding the substantial changes in the concepts of the alternatives.
Subsequently, City staff and consultant conducted several meetings with Caltrain staff to understand how addressing Caltrain comments and adhering to Caltrain Standards will impact the conceptual design alternatives and understand the high-level material changes that may be required to the concepts. A follow-up with the Rail Committee was conducted on March 19 and April 16, 2024 (Staff Report 2402-2675 8) presented key findings on the impacts to various alternatives and discussed the material changes required for various alternatives.
Therefore, staff requested AECOM Consultants to provide a proposal for the additional services and ongoing support as discussed and directed by the Rail Committee at these meetings on a time and material basis, including support from sub-consultants. The scope includes the following major tasks:
•Design Criteria update: Update the design criteria based on the new Caltrain standards and comments received on the conceptual plans.
•Plans, Profiles, and Sections Update: Update plans for Partial Underpass at Churchill Avenue, Underpass Alternatives at Meadow and Charleston, Viaduct/Hybrid at Meadow and Charleston Crossing to accommodate the future four tracking needs and to accommodate Caltrain comments and concerns on the conceptual plans •Fact Sheets, Matrix, and Renderings Update: Update project materials such as sections, renderings, fact sheets, and matrix to provide materials for community outreach, the Rail Committee, and the City Council review
•Additional outreach and Technical Support: Update Virtual townhall to reflect all updates and to conduct additional outreach.
FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT
At the request of the City, the Consultant provided the proposal for the additional scope of work on a time and material basis. Following negotiations between the City and the Consultant, the amendment to the contract is proposed in the amount of $297,206.
Funding required for Contract Amendment #6 is available in the FY 2024 Adopted Capital Budget for Railroad Grade Separation Projects at Churchill Avenue (PL 24000) and Meadow Drive/Charleston Road (PL 24001). The existing AECOM Contract including Amendments 1-5 totals $3,596,828. Based on the amount proposed in Contract Amendment #5 of $297,206, the total contract amount for the AECOM Contract would increase to $3,894,034. There is adequate funding available from Measure B grade separation project allocated to these projects to fund this contract amendment. Staff will work with VTA to amend the funding agreement to include 8 https://cityofpaloalto.primegov.com/Portal/viewer?id=0&type=7&uid=e904b581-a3c4-4aa1-b637-6a9542fe8ecb 4 2
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these additional tasks.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
The Rail Committee meetings are held regularly, focusing on ongoing matters related to rail grade separation projects. During study sessions, action items, and public comments, the committee actively seeks input and feedback from the community. Meeting details are communicated to the public through the City calendar and meeting notifications, ensuring transparency and accessibility. As these meetings are open to the public, community members have the opportunity to voice their comments and concerns directly to the rail committee and the City.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed action is part of a planning study for a possible future action, which has not been approved, adopted, or funded and is therefore exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in accordance with CEQA Guidelines Section 15262. The future decision to approve the construction of any one of the identified potential alternatives would be subject to CEQA and require the preparation of an environmental analysis. Environmental review and design for the grade separation project will be performed in the subsequent steps of the project development.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: AECOM, Contract Amendment No. 6
APPROVED BY:
Philip Kamhi, Chief Transportation Official